I wanted to share with you some of the exciting work I have been doing in the past year as a Programme Coordinator for IWGIA, an international human rights organisation that supports Indigenous peoples’ rights and self-determination.
One of my main responsibilities is to coordinate the Indigenous Navigator project, which is a framework and set of tools for and by Indigenous peoples to systematically monitor the level of recognition and implementation of their rights. The project involves collecting, validating and analyzing data from Indigenous communities across the world, using indicators based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The data is then used to inform advocacy and policy-making at local, national and international levels. You can read about it here: https://www.davidberger.net/2019/01/embarking-on-a-new-journey/
This year has been stunning. In the last six months I have settled into the role and I can’t express how amazing it has been. I work closely with our consortium partners, who are Indigenous and support organisations from different regions around the globe – Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Artic, to provide them with technical support and guidance on data processing, including cleaning, handling, validation and analysis. I also coordinate the communication and dissemination of their findings through various platforms, such as reports, webinars, social media and events.
Alongside the Indigenous Navigator, these months have been filled with the overwhelming task of editing the Indigenous World 2019. These months, thought very difficult and packed from sunrise to sunset, are one of the most rewarding aspects of my work so far. To be given the honor of being the General Editor of the Indigenous World, which is IWGIA’s flagship publication is a huge responsibility. It has been published since 1986, and it is a collaborative effort between Indigenous and non-indigenous activists and scholars who voluntarily share their insights and analysis on the developments Indigenous peoples have experienced in the past year. The publication covers topics such as land rights, climate change, self-government, cultural diversity, human rights violations and provides key documentation of the realities of Indigenous Peoples’ around the globe.
As the General Editor, I oversee the editorial process, supporting my colleagues who are regional editors in reviewing and editing submissions, ensuring quality and consistency, and coordinating the design and publishing of the final product in two languages. On top of that, we organize a launch event in New York at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues each year. As a cherry on top, we also organized a scintillating photo exhibition at the UNHQ in New York – “The World in Faces”, and “By the world forgot.”
Diverse cultures of the world through the portraits of Indigenous Peoples
The exhibition honors Indigenous Peoples’ right to their cultures, identities and traditions, and their right to self-determination by determining their own policies and strategies with respect to their cultural heritage and traditional systems. These rights are enshrined in many of the articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), for example in the Preamble, Articles 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, and 31 of the UNDRIP and throughout the ILO C169.
The Exhibition was on from April through May of this year, celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ cultural diversity, which is one of the pillars of the UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. The term “Indigenous Peoples” is a common denominator for more than 476 million people, spread across more than 90 countries around the world who, through historical processes, have been denied their right to control their own development. As distinct peoples, they claim the right to self-determination, including the right to control their own political, social, economic and cultural development.
The exhibition showcases photographs that display the incredible diversity of Indigenous peoples’ cultures through portraits of individuals from different parts of the world in their traditional clothing and environment. As you look at these photos, we hope that you will see not only the individual, but the communities and the Indigenous Peoples they represent.
To learn more about IWGIA and their invaluable work, visit our website: www.iwgia.org.
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